Conagra

Mission

• Conagra’s mission is to transform its operations in a way that will fulfill consumer needs and wants in a smart and simple way.
• The company aims to also modernize its existing iconic food brands by “leveraging fresh opportunities and adapting to the changing landscape.”

Vision

• Conagra’s Vision statement is as follows: “Conagra Brands has the most energized, highest-impact culture in food. We persistently challenge and disrupt marketplace/business conventions, and we are respected for our great brands, great food, great margins, and consistent results.”

Purpose

• Primarily, the company’s purpose is to innovate, as stated by their innovation slogan: “Innovation is at the Center of All We Do.”
• It aims to connect to its consumers through its innovative products that are “repeatable and scalable” and reflects consumer demand.
• As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, it also aims to create “food that is right for all.”
• This means to create food in a nutritious and safe way, with responsibly sourced ingredients.
• It also aims to be caretakers of its communities and environment.

McCormick

Mission

• The mission of the company is to create “global flavor experiences that make every meal and moment better. ”

Vision

• McCormick’s vision is to fuel growth within the company through its principles, which include its passion for flavor, power of people, taste that consumers trust, innovation, and purpose-led performance.

Purpose

• The purpose of the McCormick’s as stated by its responsibility slogan: “Dedicated to Improving the World Around Us.”
• The company aims to “improve the health and well-being of all people, build vibrant communities where we live, work and source, and make a positive impact on the planet.”

Nestle USA

Mission

• The mission of the company is to create “high-growth food, beverage, and consumer health categories with brands that consumers love.”

Vision

• The vision of Nestle USA is to deliver the best quality of its wide array of products, which range from pet care, bottled water, frozen meals, and others to consumers all around the world in a sustainable and efficient way.

Purpose

• The purpose of Nestle USA, as stated by the company: “Nestlé in the United States is committed to enhancing the quality of life and contributing to a healthier future--for individuals and families, for our thriving and resilient communities, and for the planet.”

Overview of Sustainability Efforts

BETTER PLANET

• One of the elements of Conagra’s sustainability efforts is “Better Planet.” This sustainability effort aims to address three existing problems in the environment, which are climate change, water consumption, and landfill waste.
• In addressing climate change, the company’s goals are to decrease greenhouse gas emissions, efficiently use energy, and to have a sustainable transportation strategy.
• To address these goals, the company has implemented a five-step climate-related risk management process.
• As an overview, this five-step process is meant to identify key risks in various operations such as production, distribution, and others. The company uses risk mapping tools such as the WRI Aqueduct, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Agency (NOAA), and others to uncover these risks. Conagra then calculates the possible severity of the risks and then assign the appropriate teams to handle them. The teams would then apply effective strategies to eliminate or reduce the risks identified, and as an end process, the team continuously monitors the risk to see if there are any changes.

Climate Change

• Conagra was able to reduce 1,380 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by reducing and optimizing the blast cell freeze time for each SKU produced in the company’s Marshall facility.
• In addition, the company was able to reduce 1,028 metric tons of GHG emissions in its Quincy facility by replacing its fluorescent bulbs with LED lights. This also reduced the facility’s electrical consumption by 9% over a three-year period (2015-2018).
• The company’s Macon facility was able to reduce 863 metric tons of GHG emissions by implementing automated energy controls. The automated energy controls efficiently distribute operational water throughout the parts in the facility that needs them.
• Lastly, the company’s Maple Grove facility decided to upgrade its centralized chiller cooling system, which helped reduce energy load and system costs by 7%. It also decreased 75 metric tons of GHG emissions within the facility. Furthermore, the upgraded system was more dependable, giving a monetary benefit that reinforces the sustainability efforts of the company.
• For the company’s 2020 sustainability goals, the company aims to reduce 20% of its GHG emissions for every pound of production.
• Through these efforts, GHG emissions were decreased by 7.2% for every pound of production in 2018. Additionally, overall emissions have decreased by 26% for the years 2008-2018.
• Moreover, the company reduced its GHG emissions by 135,477 metric tons in its landfills by converting waste into ‘byproducts’ that can be recycled and reused.

• The company also started to use lightweight trucks, which has effectively eliminated 600 loads and 255 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide in 2018.
• Moreover, Conagra had overall decreased its total energy usage by 9% and decreased its production of natural gas by 18%. This had also helped decrease costs for production within the company’s facilities.

Water Use

• The company’s 2020 sustainability goals for water use is to decrease water use by 20% for every pound of its production.
• In 2018, the company had decreased its water use by 26%. It has also decreased its water use per pound of production by 7.3%.
• The company did this by employing three main air compressors in its Troy facility, which effectively saved 12.6 million gallons of water and saved the company $101,000 annual cost savings, and by installing an automatic water nozzle system in its Irapuato facility, which conserved 480,000 gallons of water within the facility.
• Currently, the company is improving on managing its water resources and decreasing high-risk water use from its facilities.

Eliminating Waste

• The company’s 2020 sustainability goals for eliminating waste is to continue its zero-waste-to-landfill journey and to use sustainable packaging to prevent food waste.
• The company’s Milton facility had reduced 1,150 tons of waste through its improved production practices that reduced yield loss while the company’s Waterloo facility had used 2,250 fewer pounds of packaging and saving 225,000 bags of the company’s DAVID seeds in 2018.
• Furthermore, the company’s Troy facility had partnered with Forgotten Harvest and helped donate food to not only people who need it but also to schools that needed a better quality of food for their cafeterias. In 2018, the facility had donated 305,000 pounds of pizza and 203,000 pounds of meat snacks to Forgotten Harvest.
• Conagra’s Sylvester facility had used its peanut butter skins as animal feed. Through this effort, the company had diverted 2,000 tons of peanut skins as animal feed rather than placing it in landfills.
• In the company’s Indianapolis facility, the production of biogas was used to generate electricity in the grid. It was able to convert 3,400 tons of waste into electricity use.
• Lastly, ConAgra’s headquarters in Chicago encourages employees to discard waste in appropriate composting bins. By doing this, about 4,000 pounds of waster was composted.
• Through the company’s efforts, 82.6% of its solid waste from its facilities were either recycled, donated to people, used as animal feed, or became part of the company’s energy generation.
• Additionally, the company only had 17.4% of landfills in 2018, showing the increasing success of the company’s sustainability efforts.
• The company also aims to create sustainable packaging using its principles. Primarily, the packaging must protect the product safely for consumers to consume. However, other additional efforts must be made for it to be sustainable such as reducing the lifecycle of the packaging and its waste, using the most efficient way to package products and to use recovery efforts to reuse the packaging.
• Conagra had launched its renewable plant-based fiber bowl known as Power Bowls in 2017. Since then, the company had saved enough energy to produce 81,808,416 power bowls.

RESPONSIBLE SOURCING

• As part of the company’s sustainability efforts, the company follows responsible sourcing as a way to mitigate deforestation and to help overall animal welfare.
• To mitigate deforestation around the world, the company currently only purchases sustainable palm oil from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an organization that promotes the growth of sustainable palm oil products.
• In 2017, the company had 35% of its palm oil supply carried by RSPO Etrace certificates, and 65% of their palm oil supply was RSPO Mass Balance. In 2020, the company aims for these numbers to reach 100%. 
• Additionally, the company promotes the humane treatment of animals. This means that these animals are free from suffering, have ready access to water, and a diet that promotes their overall well-being.
• Following this principle, the company had produced one million cage-free eggs into their products in 2018.
• Additionally, both the company’s pork and dairy produce adhere to the essential policies such as the Pork Quality Assurance program and the National Dairy Farmers Assuring Responsible Management Animal Care Program.
• The company aims that by 2020 all the chickens that they use for their products all come from respectable organizations that promote animal welfare such as RSPCA or the Global Animal Partnership.

Overview of Corporate Social Responsibility

STRONGER COMMUNITIES

• One of the elements of Conogra’s Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts (CSR) is “Stronger Communities.” This element not only provides for the communities that are found around the company and its facilities but within its own structure as well.
• The company implements various responsibilities to all of its employees, including those who have an executive role. All of them are required to follow the company’s Code of Conduct.
• Additionally, the company follows each state’s federal laws when it comes to employment practices.
• Furthermore, the company guarantees employee safety through its principles and key concepts, such as the proper managing of each employee’s safety and health when doing their respective roles and compliance to each of the company’s facilities’ behavioral and safety practices.
• Stronger Communities also apply to the external world that surrounds the company, which includes suppliers, non-profit organizations, schools, and others.
• Conagra is very active in its philanthropic goals, helping various organizations through the means of education, donations, and others.

Internal CSR Efforts (Safety, Culture, and Diversity)

• In 2018, the company had decreased its incident rate by 7% and decreased visits from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) by 20%.
• The company’s facilities in Oakdale, Council Bluffs, and Rensselaer, had all less than 2% incident rates, for a combined 4.5 million hours of work done during the year.
• Additionally, the company enriches its culture and workplace through its principles of integrity (doing things right), external focus (consumer focus), broad-mindedness (disciplined curiosity), agility (insights to action), leadership (inspiring and making decisions), focus on results (refuse-to-lose mentality). This helps enrich learning and production within the company.
• The company also keeps itself diverse when it comes to handling and recruiting employees. The company has a network for almost every ethnicity. Currently, the company has the Conagra Asian Network (CAN), Conagra Black Employee Network (CBEN), Conagra Latino Network (CLN), and others.
• Each network helps with the recruitment, learning, and development process for each ethnicity within the company.

External CSR Efforts (Supplier, Communities, and Customers)

• When it comes to Conagra’s suppliers, it pursues various supplier contracts with minorities. In 2018, the company had spent about $326 million with 850 minority suppliers, which include women and veteran-owned businesses.
• The company also often reaches out to communities through the means of donations, education, and others.
• In 2018, the company had donated $20,472,489 to various foundations and non-profit organizations. Furthermore, Conagra had awarded 552 grants to various organizations and foundations.
• When it comes to volunteerism, the company had initiated 117 projects, had 2,284 volunteers on these projects, and accumulated 5,578 hours of volunteer service.
• Additionally, it has packaged and sorted 515,686 pounds of food, filled 39,698 backpacks of food, and donated 639,169 meals.
• Among these projects were partnerships with various non-profit organizations such as Feeding America. The company had donated 13,409,142 pounds of products to Feeding America. It has also granted free summer grants in 2017 for kids in 25 food banks across 15 states.
• Financial contributions and grants were also given across six different programs, which include Project: Alpha Meals, Project: Family and Food Security, Project: Food For Friends, and others.

GOOD FOOD

• One of the company’s CSR efforts is its Good Food initiative that helps deliver the company’s purpose, which is to create “food that is right for all.”
• The Good Food Initiative aims to deliver nutritious and safe food to consumers while maintaining transparency and proper distribution.
• In its approach to nutrition, the company was considered to be the leader of the Product Profile ranking by the 2018 Access to Nutrition Index.
• It received the position because in 2016, 44% of the company’s sales came from healthy products, and 32% of the company’s products meet the benchmarks of the World Health Organization Euro criteria.
• Furthermore, the company interacts with its health professionals by giving them access to the company’s educational material and programs on its website.
• The company also follows the FDA issued rules for the new Nutrition Facts label. All the company’s packaging now follows a consumer-friendly format that highlights calories and serving sizes.
• Additionally, the company also launched its Smart Label program, which provides consumers access to nutritional facts that are usually not placed in most packages. Consumers have access to this program by visiting the Smart Label website or by scanning the QR codes of the products. Information includes certifications, non-GMO verification, ingredient sourcing information, and more.
• In 2018, the company’s Smart Label website had approximately 1,700 pages, and are currently adding more nutritional and ingredient information from other company products.

Embedding Purpose in Operations and CSR Versus Sustainability Initiatives

• The company’s purpose of creating “food that is right for all” and to be caretakers of its communities and environment is seen through its sustainability and CSR efforts of reducing its carbon footprint and waste, volunteer efforts to communities, sourcing the proper ingredients, and others.
• Conagra’s sustainability efforts are found in all of its facilities, operations, and value chains. As seen from the overview of its sustainability efforts, various facilities have implemented their own projects to reduce waste and GHG emissions.
• Employees are also incentivized for their own unique approach to sustainability through its “Conagra Brands Sustainable Development Awards Program,” which further enriches the company’s sustainability and CSR efforts.
• Additionally, the company’s five-step risk management process encompasses all the company’s operations, which includes production, packaging, distribution, administration, and others.
• Moreover, the company has various solutions for its food waste. Waste is either recycled, donated, used as feeds for animals, or used for energy generation. This benefits all the company’s facilities, and also help reduce CHG emissions and landfill.
• When it comes to its CSR purpose, it is seen that each facet of corporate and industry work has an enriching quality through the means of managed safety, conduct, and diversity. This has led to a much safer workplace with highly-engaged and motivated employees.
• The company greatly upholds its code of conduct and safety principles, as seen by the reductions of incident rates in all of its facilities.
• In addition to this, because of the company’s diversity, it has received more employees during its recruitment process, as well as a strong and diverse supplier network, which consists of those in the minorities.
• Conagra also reaches out to communities and non-profit organizations through the means of donations, grants, and volunteers, which tackles the company’s purpose of being caretakers of its communities.
• Additionally, because of the company’s CSR efforts, it was considered to be part of the Civic 50, which recognizes companies that help the surrounding communities.

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Overview of Sustainability Efforts

• In McCormick’s 2017 Purpose-led Performance Report, the company stated its sustainability goals for 2025. Primarily, the company aims to reduce its GHG emissions by 20%, reduce its packaging carbon footprint by 25%, reduce its water usage by 20%, and have a recycling rate of 80% on its solid waste. Additionally, the company also aims to source its iconic ingredients, mainly vanilla, red pepper, black pepper, oregano, and cinnamon more sustainably.
• As of 2017, the company is currently reducing its environmental impact through the 4R framework, which is to reduce, reuse, recycle, and renew.
• Through this framework, the company was able to reduce its environmental impact on two of its facilities around the world, namely, Gourmet Garden in Australia and the Hunt Valley Plant in the United States.
• In 2017, The Gourmet Garden facility had 40% in energy savings because of its new freezers that use ammonia instead of carbon dioxide, it has reused 100% of its collected rooftop rainwater for its plants, recycled 50% of its wastes, and renewed 100% of its herb crops through a more sustainable and organic growing method.
• The Hunt Valley Plant had reduced its raw material and packaging waste and has gained $2 million in savings because of these efforts, reused corrugated boxes for the shipping of packaging materials, recycled 80% of its solid waste, and renewed the way it gains its energy through the use of solar parking, which is enough to power 80 Maryland homes.
• Moreover, the plant uses modern compressed air and LED lighting, which is predicted to reduce the facility’s overall electric bill by 15%, and it also has solar canopies that generated 846,900 kilowatts of energy in 2016 — this reduced GHG emissions by 330 metric tons of CO2.
• The company also started its “Product and Packaging Commitments.” In 2017, the company redesigned its Old Bay and Black Pepper cans with fully recyclable PET containers. It reduced the company’s carbon emissions by 16%.
• Additionally, McCormick had reduced its materials for all of its glass jars in Europe by 10%. This helps reduce the weight and associated carbon emission from production and transport.
• McCormick is also certified by the USDA Organic and verified by the Rainforest Alliance, and both organizations are promoters of corporate sustainability.
• In addition to this, because of the company’s sustainability efforts, it was ranked by Corporate Knights as 14th on its Global 100 Sustainability Index and first on its consumer staples industry overall.
• Furthermore, the company was also part of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the world in 2017.

Overview of Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts

• McCormick’s approach to CSR efforts is two-fold. First is its commitment to its people, which concentrates on its employees and consumers. Second is its commitment to communities, which include farming communities, non-profit organizations, and volunteer programs.

Commitment to People

• By 2025, McCormick aims to have 95% of its employees with active development goals to be part of its global HR system, have 80% of its employees to participate in the company’s health and well-being programs, have a 50% increase in the number of MSI citations on professional literature, and have 90% of its products to have better transparency. This includes, non-GMO, BPA-free, organic, and other products.
• In 2017, the company had strong growth in its Diversity and Inclusion programs, which focuses on four areas which are the workforce, workplace, marketplace, and community.
• In its efforts to diversify the company’s Board of Directors in the years of 2014 to 2016, the company had a 7% increase of female members (from 20% to 27%) and a 17% increase of members who identify as the color rose (from 10% to 27%).
• Furthermore, in 2017, the company’s leadership comprised of 48% of females and 23% of people of color. Additionally, the company’s workforce consisted of 37% females and 43% of people of color.
• McCormick also added two new Employee Ambassador Groups (EAGs) in the Americas. It also expanded its McCormick’s Women’s International Network (WIN) to France and the United Kingdom. These are organizations responsible for community-building and development for minorities in the workforce.
• Moreover, one of the company’s programs, known as the Global Diversity and Inclusion Day, 1,200 employees from 11 countries participated in the company’s activities to raise awareness of its diversity and inclusion efforts.
• Because of its diversity and inclusion efforts, McCormick was recognized by Diversity Inc as one of the 25 Noteworthy Companies in 2016, and it also became part of its Top 50 Companies for Diversity in 2017.
• The company had also launched Ignite, a women’s leadership program, and Informal, Emerging, & Strategic Leadership, a program that helps develop leaders from various levels in the company.
• McCormick also cares for its employees’ health and wellness. The company’s facility in Maryland has on-site exercise programs and healthy eating classes. It also offers discounts for its employees when it comes to health-related services, and an annual Safety & Wellness program to help employees develop healthier lifestyles outside work.

Commitment to Communities

• McCormick aims to increase the resilience of smallholder farmers that grow the company’s iconic herbs and spices by 90% in 2025. Primarily, the company aims to enroll 90% of these farmers to its digital management system. The company also aims to increase skills, income, access to financial services and education, and improved health and nutrition of these farmers.
• The company also aims to further empower women suppliers by completely mapping the contributions of women on supplier farms. The company has found that when women have the same access to productive resources as men, yields in suppliers’ farms increase by 20-30%.
• Additionally, in 2017, the company became part of WeConnect International, an organization that helps to develop women-owned businesses around the world.
• Diversity is also a goal for McCormick when it comes to suppliers. In 2017, the company aimed to increase its year-on-year spending with diverse-owned companies by 5%.
• The company also has a Diversity Program dedicated to its suppliers. McCormick accepts suppliers from at least 51% minority-owned businesses. It also accepts at least 51% woman-owned businesses, 51% American Veteran-owned businesses, 51% Service-Disabled American Veteran-owned businesses, and 51% LGBT-owned businesses.
• Additionally, as part of its CSR efforts, the company is also increasing its human rights awareness in its supply chain. Because of this, 97% of its global suppliers were not considered to be at high risk.
• Lastly, McCormick practices in charitable giving and employee volunteering. During the company’s 2016 annual charity day, 2,000 US employees participated from over 15 locations. In addition to this, the company was able to raise $1.9 million for charities. The company aims to reach 80% global participation in 2025.
• Additionally, the company donated over $556,000 in funding to employee-chosen non-profit organizations, which positively impacted the lives of 300,000 people. The company aims to extend programs to mobile food pantries, mobile nutrition and physical fitness activities, school-based programs, low-cost food production, and other programs in 2017.
• The company had donated over $6.8 million to charities all over the world in 2016, and in 2017, the company had donated $1.8 million to United Way and other charities in the US.
• The company’s signature charitable program known as Flavor For Life has also partnered with many non-profit organizations in the US, such as the American Heart Association, United Way, and the YMCA. This partnership helped the company educate community members on how to lessen fat intake through the use of herbs and spices.
• McCormick’s charitable presence is also seen all around the world, in places like the United States, Poland, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Madagascar.
• The company launched various programs in these communities, like the Kulinarnie Mochi program in Poland, which educated 4,000 community members on how to cook flavorful and healthy meals. McCormick also helped reduce 2,340 black pepper farmers’ costs by 30-40% by reducing water, electricity, labor, and fertilizer use in Vietnam.

Embedding Purpose in Operations and CSR Versus Sustainability Initiatives

• The company's purpose of "Dedicated to Improving the World Around Us" and aims of "improving the health and well-being of all people, build vibrant communities where we live, work and source, and make a positive impact on the planet," is embedded in its sustainability efforts of reducing carbon footprint, waste, and water usage. Its purpose is also embedded in its CSR efforts of diversity, training and development, managing employees' health and wellness, charitable giving, and others.
• McCormick's sustainability efforts are primarily embedded in its production and distribution operations. The company had reduced its carbon footprint, water usage, and recycled most of its waste through its 4R framework found in its facilities.
• Additionally, these sustainability efforts had decreased the company's expenses when it comes to energy costs.
• Because of the company's sustainability efforts, it had been recognized as one of the most sustainable companies in the world by various organizations. This shows how the effectiveness of the company's sustainability efforts.
• Moreover, McCormick's CSR efforts are primarily embedded in its human resource and philantrophy operations. McCormick is very dedicated in creating a diverse workforce profile, with almost half of its workforce being women or people with color.
• McCormick is also planning to diversify its supplier-base through its release of the Diversity Program for its suppliers. The Diversity Program aims to accept businesses that are mostly controlled by minorities, such as women, people with color, American-veterans, LGBT, and others.
• The company also has events to celebrate diversification in the workplace, which aims to spread awareness regarding diversity and inclusion.
• Because of the company's diversity and inclusion efforts, the company was recognized to be one of the most diverse companies in the world.
• McCormick has also dedicated its CSR efforts to communities all around the world.
• The company has been part of numerous charity giving, volunteerism, and wellness programs in communities all around the world. It had donated and educated various communities, and this had helped to enrich their lives for the better.
• Furthermore, the company has also improved its farmers' lives through means of increased skills and income and access to proper education.
• Overall, McCormick's purpose is embedded deep into its operations. Both of its CSR and sustainability efforts are found in all of its facilities, operations, and value chains.

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Overview of Sustainability Efforts

• The main ambition of Nestle USA for the planet is to have zero environmental impact in its operations by 2030.
• The company has three approaches to reach this goal, and these are to care for water, act on climate change, and to safeguard the environment.
• In the company’s efforts to care for water, Nestle Waters North America launched its “Alliance for Water Stewardship” at five US facilities.
• Nestle Waters North America is also collaborating with the University of New England to protect a 1500-square-mile watershed in Southern Maine.
• Additionally, Nestle Purina partnered with the Nature Conservancy to help better the existing sustainability of the company’s beef supply chain. Furthermore, the partnership had helped conserve 2.4 billion gallons of water during the past three years.
• The company’s efforts to act on climate change had led it to sign a power purchase agreement with EDP Renewables for a supply of clean electricity in 2018. The agreement was for five of Nestle USA’s facilities located in Southeastern Pennsylvania for the next 15 years. Estimated savings from the agreement are equivalent to taking over 25,000 cars off the road each year.
• Additionally, Nestle USA has doubled its rate of onsite consumption of renewable energy. (5% in 2010 to 10% in 2018)
• Moreover, in October 2017, Nestle Waters North America implemented 589 ReadyRefresh delivery vehicles. These vehicles use cleaner alternative fuels to help the company reduce its carbon footprint.
• Nestle USA also continued its commitment to #WeAreStillIn to help implement the Paris Accord among the business community.
• Nestle USA’s efforts to safeguard the environment has helped the company achieve zero-waste-to-landfill status among 73% of its facilities in 2017.
• Additionally, Nestle USA, Gerber, and Nestle Waters North America became all members of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition’s “How2Recycle” program. The program is meant to recover materials away from landfills.
• Furthermore, in 2018, Nestle Life has announced new bottles made from 100% recycled plastic. These bottles are created from food-grade recycled PET plastic, which is known to have quadruple the use when compared to other recycled plastic.
• Lastly, the company had invested $2 billion to use food-grade recycled plastics for its innovative packaging. This is on top of the invested $250 million sustainable packaging venture by Nestle Institute of Packaging Sciences, which helps start-up companies that focus on sustainable packaging.
• In 2018, the company had saved more than 350,000 tons of packaging materials since 2010 because of smarter packaging design.

Overview of Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts

• Nestle USA’s corporate social responsibility effort is two-fold. The first CSR effort is for individuals and families, and these are primarily meant for the company’s consumers. The second CSR effort is for communities; these are primarily meant for the company’s employees and partnered non-profit organizations.

For Individual and Families

• Nestle USA’s main ambition for Individual and Families is to help 50 million children to live a healthy and well life.
• The company’s strive to offer taste, and healthier choices had helped the company produce products that comply with the Nestle Nutritional Foundation criteria for children.
• Additionally, the company had reformulated over 1,830 products to reduce sodium, sugar, trans fat, and artificial colors and flavors. The reformulation also added essential nutrients to the products.
• As of 2018, 85% of the company’s products contain no artificial flavors and colors that only came from natural sources.
• In an effort to inspire people to lead healthier lives, Nestle USA had 95% of its products deliver portion guidance, and 100% of its applicable products have “Facts Up” front labels.
• Lastly, the company’s strive to build, share, and apply nutrition knowledge has brought the company to invest $1.8 billion to nutrition research and development worldwide. Moreover, Nestle Purina is currently working on products that would help pets live longer and healthier.

For Communities

• Nestle USA’s main ambition for Communities is to improve 30 million livelihoods in various communities that are connected with the company’s operations.
• In an effort to support communities that are connected to the company’s operations, more than 5,000 Nestle USA employees volunteered with Feeding America in 2017. Feeding America is an organization dedicated to supporting local food banks and other non-profit organizations that help distribute and produce nutritional foods to families in need. During the volunteer program, the company was able to donate 11 million meals to the organization.
• Additionally, the company had helped victims of Hurricane Florence by donating $75,000 relief efforts on the ground, 850,000 bottles of water, and more than 12,000 pounds of pet food and litter. Overall, the company had donated 4.6 million bottles of water and $31 million Purina pet food and Tidy Cats litter to various non-profit organizations in the country.
• Nestle USA’s strive to accelerate career growth within its structure had helped it sustain Project Opportunity, becoming the United State’s employer of choice for veterans. The company had employed over 2,400 veterans in all of its operating companies.
• In addition to this, Nestle USA and Nestle Purina had scored 90/100 and 100/100, respectively, and has become one of the top businesses that follow inclusive policies for LGBT workers in the 2017 Corporate Equality Index Report. Moreover, in 2018, the company had a 1-to-1 gender pay equity.
• Lastly, in efforts to source responsibly, the company aims to source all of its eggs from cage-free hens by 2020. Additionally, the company aims to source all of its broiler chickens to suppliers that follow a higher standard of animal welfare by 2024.

Embedding Purpose in Operations and CSR Versus Sustainability Initiatives

• Nestle USA’s commitment and purpose to “enhance the quality of life and contribute to a healthier future—for individuals and families, for our thriving and resilient communities, and for the planet,” is seen in both of its CSR and sustainability efforts.
• The company’s commitment to a better planet is seen through its sustainability efforts, which is primarily embedded in its distribution and production operations. Nestle USA’s strive to create better packaging is seen in its new production and distribution efforts, such as using food-grade recyclable plastic for its packaging and using alternative fuels on its trucks to reduce its overall carbon footprint in distribution operations.
• Additionally, its achievement in recycling has led the company to produce less waste as well.
• Nestle USA’s CSR efforts are embedded primarily in its consumer-base and employees. As of 2018, the company had become more transparent and more health-conscious with its products.
• Moreover, the company’s efforts to enrich the lives of the communities that are connected with the company’s operations had positively impacted various non-profit organizations such as Feeding America. It had also helped multiple lives that have been affected by natural disasters like typhoons.
• Furthermore, the company had also strived to create a more welcoming and diverse workspace, hiring multiple veterans to be part of the company, and reaching to be one of the best companies in the 2017 Corporate Equality Index.
• Overall, Nestle USA’s purpose is embedded deep into its operations. Both of its CSR and sustainability efforts are found in all aspects of the company’s operations and value chains.

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